Devices for minimizing sand and soil erosion (hereinafter referred to as "sand" erosion) are widely used to minimize beach erosion caused by movement of water. The rate of sand erosion is greatly increased during storms which cause waves from the ocean to wash over sandy beach areas thereby producing run-offs which carry away substantial quantities of sand.
The prior art is replete with devices to minimize sand erosion on ocean fronting beaches. The crowded nature of the erosion prevention art is indicative of the great effort which has been expended to provide means which adequately protect sand on the beach from the effects of erosion. One solution which has been posed is to erect grass covered sand dunes parallel to the shorelines. However, this solution has proven to be unsatisfactory because the grass roots cannot grow deep enough to sufficiently protect the sand dunes. Thus, powerful waves produced during severe storms can sometimes undermine the roots and wash the sand dunes away.
Another solution taught by the prior art is to erect walls comprising a plurality of cement blocks. This solution is also unsatisfactory because the changing tides eventually overcome the cement block walls and cause them to sag. Once the sagging begins, the walls tend to fracture and break apart.
Still another solution disclosed in the prior art is to form a retaining wall by piling many large rocks on top of each other. The problem with this solution is that the rocks tend to be individually washed away or otherwise separated from the wall structure so that the individual rocks become buried in the surrounding sand.
Automobile tires have also been employed in prior art devices as a means for minimizing beach erosion. To this end, the tires are generally randomly tied together with rope or chains. When placed on a beach, the tires tend to lay flat so that waves caused by storms can easily wash over the tires and cause erosion to the associated beach. Thus, the tire devices are relatively ineffective.
In Applicants' own prior art beach stabilizer, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,629,360, a retaining wall system comprises a plurality of sand erosion inhibiting elements. Each of the elements comprises a body for interfering with the flow of water which would otherwise cause erosion of an associated beach. A link device connects a first element to a second element and includes a first means for pivotally securing the first element thereto for rotation about a first axis and second means for pivotally securing the second element thereto about a second axis nonparallel to the first axis. This device has proven to be quite effective in preventing beach erosion. However, it too has problems. In particular, during a severe storm, the great power of waves from the ocean can cause the beach stabilizer to move on the beach. Further, although this device permits the beach to "rebuild" as it becomes covered with sand over an extended period of time or after a severe storm, the device cannot easily be lifted back on to the surface of the beach. This is due to the length of the interconnected elements and the difficulty in finding the device. Once found, the device must be disassembled and moved by large equipment back to an appropriate location on the beach.
The present invention solves all of the aforementioned problems and particularly improves upon Applicants' own prior art device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,629,360 by providing means for retaining such a device in a desired location and for marking such location; thus, permitting the device to be easily lifted as it builds sand layers on an associated beach.